Places where people may sit will be marked in the church
We are preparing to have a congregation at our Masses in Enniskeane Church from Monday June 29th.
There will be less space due to required distancing between people from different households. People who live in the one household may sit together. Children of all ages are welcome.
Places where people can sit will be marked.
New rotas are being prepared and circulated for Stewards, Ministers of the Word, Ministers of the Eucharist, altar servers (2 at each Mass), Prayer of the Faithful readers, collectors (at the doors at end of Mass), sacristans, church cleaners, and the many people who make our liturgies a living experience of the love of God.
Our first weekend Masses with a congregation will be Sat July 4th at 7.30pm and Sunday July 5th at 11am.
If you are in any doubt about coming to church while restrictions still apply, be assured that it’s ok to stay at home and pray with us from there.
Mass with a congregation from Monday June 29th in Enniskeane Church
Following government and NPHET guidance, churches will be able to open for Mass and other sacraments from Monday June 29th. However, restrictions and conditions apply.
Each parish has been asked by Bishop Fintan to assemble a group to guide and support our preparations. Thanks to the people who have offered to help guide the re-opening of Enniskeane parish church for Mass.
They are: Mike Burgoyne, John Coffey, JJ Barrett, Nora Bradfield, Tess Chambers, Joan Collins, Frances Keohane, Carena McCarthy, Colette O’Regan Walsh, Hilary O’Riordan.
There is also a group of volunteers helping to sanitise the churches across the parish each day they are open.
This leaflet details the essential changes which people will see inner churches when they re-open for Mass.
We will open our churches with:
Social Distancing (between people who are not from the same household and between each occupied pew)
Hand Sanitising for everyone at the entrance door and at the exits
Stewarding by volunteers to assist people
Seats where people can sit are marked and all others are taped off
Because we must have social distancing the capacity of the church is much reduced because only one in every three of the 50 pews will be occupied.
We will continue to broadcast Mass on Facebook Live on Sundays at 11am.
People who are vulnerable or unsure about coming to Sunday Mass are assured that they can join in prayer from home. They can also come to a weekday Mass instead.
Mass Times
Monday 29th at 10am — the first weekday Mass will be celebrated in Enniskeane with a congregation.
On weekends, we have Mass following our summer schedule, i.e. Saturday evenings at 7.30pm and on Sunday at 11am.
Ministry
Ministers of the Word (adult and young people) resume their rota.
Ministers of the Eucharist: a summer rota comprised of those from the three churches who are happy to resume is being compiled. They will wear face masks while distributing Holy Communion.
Altar Servers will resume – with two at each Mass.
Collectors will take up the collections as people leave the church with baskets at the doors.
Sacristy: Only the sacristan and the celebrating priest(s) will able to be in the sacristy before and after Mass.
Everyone will be welcome. We will do everything we can to make that our churches are clean and safe. Our parish together is working together to make this happen.
We look forward to meeting one another in Communion with us and the Lord again.
Churches in the Diocese of Cork and Ross will once again be opened for personal prayer from Monday May 18th onwards on a phased basis..
This will include our parish church at Enniskeane. It will be open MOn-Sat from 10.30am to 1pm and from 5pm to 7pm. (On Sundays from 11.30 to 1pm and from 5pm to 7pm).
In a message to the priests of the diocese, Bishop Fintan Gavin has issues guidelines which must be followed before each church can be opened.
“This needs to proceed very carefully so that people can visit churches safely knowing that procedures are in place in line with government advice and HSE guidance,” Bishop Fintan wrote.
This forms part of a phased plan towards being able to celebrate the sacraments with a congregation at a later date.
“Parishes are encouraged to initially open at least one church and to reopen the other church(es) on a phased basis depending on local circumstances.”
With the exception of Funeral Masses which are celebrated with only ten family members or friends present, the churches of the diocese have remained closed since the end of March.
Priests are to plan the opening of the churches with the help of parishioners.
“Many of our clergy and people who serve in key roles in our churches are restricted in what they can do due to government regulations,” Bishop Fintan says. “So it is important to plan this with the help of the Parish Assembly / Pastoral Council / church carers and Parish Finance Committee.”
The guidance to parishes and churches outlines minimum requirements which are to be in place before a church can be opened safely. These include attention to cleanliness, physical distancing, hand sanitising, public health information and stewarding.
The Guidance Document issued to parishes is available here.
The statue of St. Joseph and the child Jesus which now stands in the cemetery in Enniskeane is intertwined with the life of a Presentation Sister to whom it is dedicated.
The parish was gifted the statue by the Presentation Sisters when their convent in Crosshaven closed. It stood in the grounds of the convent there since 1932.
The statue in Crosshaven.
The inscription reads:
“Presented to Rev. Mother M. Agnes Daly by the Sisters on the occasion of her Golden Jubilee 1882–1932”
Sr. Mary Agnes Daly was born in Kilmurry Parish in 1853. Her parents were Jeremiah and Mary Daly. A newspaper report about her Jubilee in 1932 wrote that ‘She comes from an old and highly esteemed Co. Cork family, many members of which, today, occupy positions that command respect in professional and commercial spheres.’
On 2 Oct 1879 she entered the Presentation Convent at Crosshaven and was received by the community as a novice on 1 April 1880 (at 26 years).
On 13 April 1882 St Agnes made her Solemn Profession in the presence of Bishop William Delany; Fr Jeremiah Carey, PP; Mother M. Ignatius Ryan and Sr Teresa Tynan.
Sr Agnes and the statue in 1932 in Crosshaven.
Fifty years later she celebrated her Golden Jubilee on 13 April 1932 and the statue was erected in the gardens of the Crosshaven Convent.
She died on 14 December 1937 and the Cork Examiner noted her passing to eternal life by saying that “for the last 40 years she filled in turn every office of trust in the Community, where her genuine worth, the nobleness of her character and her amiability, with her gentle and unassuming manner, endeared her to her Sisters in religion, and to all who came into contact with her’. (— Cork Examiner 12/1937).
May St. Joseph, patron saint of a happy death, bring consolation and peace to all who mourn and the light of eternal life to all who have died.
Staff of Ross Collins and McCarthy Tarmacadam erecting the statue in its new location.
Enniskeane Parish records a debt of gratitude to Sr. Ann Coffey and all the Presentation Sisters; to Jim McCarthy and Barry Collins who transported it safely to Enniskeane; to Jim McCarthy for stripping away the old paintwork; to Nora Bradfield for painting it anew; to the staff of Ross Collins and McCarthy Tarmacadam for erecting the statue in its new location; to Theo Cullinane for laying the concrete base; to Conor Mannix for the surrounding paving work.
“Jesus, Mary and Joseph, may I breathe forth my soul in peace with you. Amen.”
